


Symbiosis

by Vox (Meislovely)



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Arguing with homophobic aunts at thanksgiving, Brief fighting, Car Accidents, Cussing, F/F, TW: Blood, Vampire!Pearl, Werewolves, cheesy flirting, indoor gardens, tw: needles
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-02-27
Updated: 2018-11-09
Packaged: 2019-03-24 18:27:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13816920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meislovely/pseuds/Vox
Summary: Like clockwork, a lithe woman turned the corner and started towards her at a brisk walk. Pearl. Same time every week, on the dot.Jasper waited, trying to determine what sort of mood Pearl was in. Some days, it was all fluttering eyelashes and honeyed words. Other days, it was all sass and fire, words biting just soft enough to be playful.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Commission for Moonwatcher13, inspired by [ this post ](http://jasker.tumblr.com/post/166442632086) by Jasker

Jasper breathed in the crisp night air as she leaned back against the wall, the entrance to the bar just few feet away. It was just that time of night when people that had work tomorrow were leaving, and the the people that didn’t had yet to show up. But she knew one that would show up soon.

Like clockwork, a lithe woman turned the corner and started towards her at a brisk walk. Pearl. Same time every week, on the dot. This time she wore a long, blue coat -that matched her eyes, Jasper noted- and a pink scarf.

Jasper waited, trying to determine what sort of mood Pearl was in. Some days, it was all fluttering eyelashes and honeyed words. Other days, it was all sass and fire, words biting just soft enough to be playful.

“Hey there, Tiger.” Pearl drawled. So it was flirty this time. “Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes.”

Jasper huffed a laugh at the cheesiness. Two could play at that game. “Your eyes don’t have to be sore for me to be the best you’ve seen today.”

“You have a point there.” She clasped her hands behind her back, bobbing up on her toes, “How is it today?”

“Quiet, but that’s gonna change real soon.”

Pearl pressed a cold, lingering touch to her arm as she walked past, throwing Jasper a wink as she disappeared inside.

Despite how short their conversations were, it made Jasper’s mondays a lot better.

It wasn’t long before Pearl came back out. That wasn’t odd, but it was odd for her to come out alone. Everytime she left, it was with someone on her arm. Jasper’s eyebrows knit together. “No luck?”

“None.” Pearl sighed and leaned back against the wall.

Jasper gave a sympathetic hum and a gentle pat on the shoulder.

“I suppose I should be happy. This way I can spend more time out here with you.” Pearl murmured, aiming a smirk at Jasper.

Jasper’s heart gave a clumsy throb and she looked away with a snort. “Always the charmer, Pearl.”

The giggle that slipped out of her brought a smile to Jasper’s face. They watched the cars go by, pondering where they might be going. Pearl thought that the minivan full of kids was on it’s way to McDonald’s. Jasper thought the pickup truck was on it’s way to the concert on the other side of town. Neither were surprised when the nice sports car pulled into the bar’s parking lot.

Finally, Pearl let out a sigh. “I wish I could get drunk right now.”

Jasper tilted her head, forehead wrinkling. They were right outside of a bar. She opened her mouth to say so, but the noise inside crescendoed with a bout of yelling and breaking glass.

Jasper whirled and marched in. She spotted the tangle of violently moving bodies and strode over to systematically break it up with hands in collars and a few stern words.

When she had shown most of the troublemakers the door, she turned for the last one. She suspected that he might’ve been the one to start the brawl. He had a sheen of sweat over his face, eyes glossy from drinking. But the most concerning feature was the glass bottle he held above him, ready to break over her head.

Before it could happen, her eyes caught a flash of pale blue behind him and he stopped, let out a grunt, and fell over; unconscious.

Yellow eyes narrowed as she looked around. Nothing in the bar was that shade of blue. Except Pearl’s coat. Curiously enough, Pearl was nowhere to be found.

Her pondering was cut off by the owner declaring they had to close up until the damage was fixed. Jasper sighed and got to work. It was gonna be a long night.

 

When Jasper woke up the next morning, it was with a groan and a scramble out of her blankets when she saw dim light leaking through her window. It wasn’t that big of a deal, but it was always better to go jogging before the sun came up. Fewer cars to hold her up, fewer people to go around, and cooler temperature to keep her comfortable as she ran.

At least this way she got to see the sun start to peak up over the mountains.

She tore her eyes away from the sunrise to fix them in front of her, but caught sight of something else.

Jasper had never seen Pearl anywhere besides the bar. But here she was, leaning against a wall in the same blue coat and pink scarf.

Jasper was sorely tempted to stop and talk, but resolved to keep schedule. All she had to do was keep her cool.

That plan failed spectacularly. 

Her foot caught on something and she let out a grunt as she pitched forward. Her eyes closed tightly, but before she could hit the ground, lithe arms wrapped around her and brought her to an abrupt stop.

Her eyes opened slowly, staring up at Pearl with an apology on her tongue. But her tongue turned to lead when Pearl gave her a sly grin. It was… different than her other grins. Wider, more real, and with a lot more teeth. Teeth that were long and sharp at the canines.

“You know,” Pearl purred, as if holding up a woman that was a foot taller and a hundred pounds heavier than her was as easy as breathing. “You should really be more careful.”

Heat rushed to Jasper’s face at the glint in her eyes and she swallowed hard at the meager distance between them.

A pained look crossed Pearl’s face and Jasper was set back on her feet faster than she could think. Pearl covered her mouth as she let out a flurry of coughs that made her entire body rattle.

Jasper pat her back gently, heat in her face fading to concern. She hadn’t noticed the bags under Pearl’s eyes and the slight shake to her hands before now. “Hey, are you okay?”

Pearl nodded, but another cough wracked her and she placed a hand on the wall to steady herself. Her eyes squinted as she looked towards the mountains. “I need to go home.”

Jasper nodded and scooped her up into her arms. Pearl gave a startled squawk and a brief flail before her arms wrapped around Jasper’s neck. She looked up at her curiously.

“Where do you live?”

Pearl gave her a small smile and started giving directions, punctuated now and then by a cough.

There were a few things that Jasper noticed when she walked in. First, it was pitch black before the lights were turned on, courtesy of the thick black-out curtains covering the two windows facing the street. 

Second, it was absolutely spotless. Not a speck of dust or dirt anywhere. The smell of lemon-scented cleaner hung thick in the air, only contested by the smell of flowers that almost made her want to sneeze.

The last was when Pearl lurched over to her fridge and opened it to reveal a line of hand labeled bottle with odd letters on them. Pearl pulled one out and raised it to her lips, drinking faster than Jasper after a long workout.

“So…” Jasper looked around at the pale blue walls. That seemed to be a theme for her. “You’re like a vampire or something, right?”

Pearl choked on her drink and brought the bottle away from her mouth, staring at Jasper with wide eyes. “You seem rather… open minded about that.”

“You could just be really weird, but vampire seems to fit.” Jasper pointed to the fridge, “There’s no food, you started looking real sick when the sun came up,  _ you have literal fangs- _ ”

“Okay, okay. I’m a vampire.” Pearl huffed. “You’re really blasé about all this. Usually someone would react with… I don’t know, Fear? Disbelief?”

Pearl wasn’t wrong. It was a struggle for Jasper to wrap her head around the thought of ‘vampires are real’ and all it entailed. It was even more of a struggle not to show it. So, she simply shrugged. “I’m just glad you didn’t burst into flames or something. What were you doing out at dawn?”

A faint hint of blue colored Pearl’s cheeks. “I made a miscalculation. I can usually go out and only suffer a nasty headache, but I didn’t factor in how hungry I am.”

“Because the club closed down early?” Jasper asked.

“No, I don’t think I was going to anyways. I was talking to someone, but  _ goodness _ they were so dull! It was always ‘work’ this, ‘my company’ that.” She rolled her eyes, “B positive is not worth  _ that _ .”

Jasper let out a chuckle, but a new thought crossed her mind. “Well, if you need blood you can have some of mine.”

Pearl’s eyes grew wide, “Well, I- are you sure?”

“Yeah, can’t be much worse than donating blood, right? Technically, I  _ would _ be donating blood.” Jasper didn’t think the folks at Red Cross would approve.

“That’s very generous of you.” Pearl murmured, giving her a small smile.

Before Jasper could blink, Pearl was in front of her. That was almost unsettling, but she didn’t have time to dwell on it as Pearl took her arm. Her mood had shifted suddenly from chatty to businesslike. Pearl’s eye were cool and calculating as they inspected her arm, cold fingers tracing lightly over the veins.

“Flex your arm?”

Jasper did,  _ gladly _ . It couldn’t hurt to show off a little.

Pearl straightened and motioned for Jasper to follow her. The scent of flowers grew stronger as they walked down the hall. It became nearly overwhelming near a door just barely cracked open, bright light shining out.

“What’s in there?” Jasper asked, eyes squinted against the light.

Pearl gave her a small smile and nudged the door open. The room was filled to the brim with flowers of all different types and colors. Lights lined the walls and shined down on them.

“Is that… you have a garden in here?”

“Yes.” Pearl giggled, clasping her hands together, “I love flowers and tending to then, and well, I can’t really do that outside. Luckily, there are HID lights. They don’t hurt me and they keep my flowers happy.”

Jasper hummed, staring into the the room for a moment longer before letting Pearl guide her to their destination.

Their destination turned out to be the bathroom. Jasper sat down on the edge of the tub, watching as Pearl pulled out a bag, a first aid kit, and some tubes. Jasper’s eyes followed as she set everything up, fast and efficient.

“Is it alright if I take a pint? I usually only take a weeks worth, but that should last me a month. Maybe two if I ration it carefully. And I’ll take you to breakfast after.”

“Yeah, that’s fine.”

It was only when Pearl was swabbing her arm with a disinfectant wipe that it clicked.

“You’re not going to bite me?” That was… strangely disappointing. The thought of Pearl’s teeth pressing into her neck jumped, unbidden, to the forefront of her mind and brought a flash of heat in her face with it.

Pearl looked up at her from under her lashes, an -intentionally, Jasper suspected- toothy grin on her lips. “At least let me buy you breakfast first.”

Jasper’s face grew hotter.

Pearl’s smile faded back to her look of concentration. “It’s a lot more safe and sanitary to do it this way. Besides, bite marks can’t be so easily hidden or explained.”

Jasper hardly felt when the needle went in, but decided it would be better not to look at it. It was over quickly and a gauze pad was pressed over the mark and secured with medical tape.

“Wonderful. Now, let’s get you some food.”

Lucky for both of them, there was a cafe right across the street. With Pearl squinting and pressing a finger to her temple, and Jasper feeling, well,  _ drained _ , anything farther was out of the cards.

It was a cosy little place. Pastel pink wallpaper and little tables lining the walls. They ordered and sat down in one of the seats furthest from the windows. It was a lot dimmer than the rest of the restaurant and Pearl let out a sigh of relief.

“So, do you always take blood like that?” Jasper asked. The weirdness of the situation had worn off enough for curiosity to rear it’s head.

“Yes, it tends to be a lot less suspicious. Not only that, but it makes it easy to get the right amount and keep people healthy. I can do it quickly and efficiently and even get some reading done before they wake up.”

Jasper turned that over in her head for a moment as the waiter came to give her the food she’d ordered. “Earlier you said something about B positive, what’s the difference?”

“I just like different types. They taste different, smell different.” She shrugged and motioned to the glass of orange juice next to Jasper’s hand. “Like Juice. I don’t prefer B positive like you don’t prefer pineapple juice.”

Jasper wrinkled her nose. “I see your point. What’s your favorite then?”

“I like O negative more than the rest.”

“Oh, like mine?” A small smile wanted to spring to her face. How weird was it to be proud that your blood type was a cute vampire’s favorite? “Why never try for me? It probably would’ve been easy, you’re really cute.”

Color came to Pearl’s cheeks, pink this time. “It was tempting, but you were always working when I showed up and I’d hate to disrupt anything. Besides, I prefer to keep it to one interaction, and I’d be seeing you again the next week.”

Jasper nodded. She took her time eating. She had a flurry of questions that Pearl was happy to answer. And when she was done, they scurried across the street and back to her apartment.

The smells and dimness weren’t as startling the second time around. It was actually kind of nice.

“If you want, I can come back when you start running low again.”

Pearl looked up at her, blinking. “You would? That’s very kind Jasper, but what do you get out of it? I don’t think breakfast is worth that much.”

Jasper grinned, “I get to spend more time with you.”

Pearl flushed, the pink that had tinted her cheeks spreading across the bridge of her nose and all the way up to her ears as a goofy smile lit her face. Jasper was no stranger to Pearl’s good looks and flirty banter, but it was amazing just how adorable she could be when she was flustered.

Before she knew it, her lips were pressed to Pearl’s and the scent of flowers filled her head. When she pulled back, a flush as bright as Pearl’s had made it’s way over her face. “I-uh, probably should’ve asked first.” She murmured, rubbing the back of her neck.

Cold hands grabbed her collar and yanked her back down into another long kiss, that turned into two, that turned into more until they had made their way over to lounge across the couch in Pearl’s living room.

Jasper watched the small beams of light that had managed to avoid the curtains, content with Pearl pressed into her side and her chest full of giddy feelings.

“Where’s your tv?”

Pearl looked up at her, blinking lazily. “Don’t have one.”

That was the strangest thing she’d heard all day. “If I’m coming over a lot, we’re gonna have to fix that. Immediately.” 


	2. Chapter 2

Pearl walked down the sidewalk with an extra skip in her step, a tiger lily held delicately in her hand, and leaned against the wall of the bar.

Six months was a meager amount of time in her very long life, but the six months with Jasper were some of the best she’d had. While she’d never been one to celebrate anniversaries, even when she was human, it felt like a special occasion.

They had plans for the night. Jasper had even managed to negotiate with her boss to let her off early, before dawn at least.

She didn’t wait long before the wind changed direction and Jasper’s scent tinged the air. A wide smile split her face and she straightened… but, something wasn’t right. It was strong, nearly overpowering and blended with the smell of copper.

Suddenly, every line of Pearl’s body was taut.

She moved quickly, mind going blank with panic as she followed the smell.

Pearl found her by the street on the other side of the building. Jasper lay on her side in the gravel, a totalled car a few yards away in a ditch. The driver looked fine, despite the likely concussion and pungent smell of liquor on their breath. It was Jasper she was worried about, and the growing pool of red beneath her.

Pearl dropped to her knees in front of Jasper. A hand reached towards her, but she drew it back, worried that it would do more harm than good.

“Jasper, can you hear me?” She asked, voice high and tight with panic.

“Pearl?” She mumbled. Her eyes didn’t open though. In fact, she didn’t say anything after that, despite further prompting.

Pearl was at a loss. Jasper was losing a lot of blood. Far too much for the paramedics to be there in time, too much to even try turning her.

She did the only thing she could think of and gathered Jasper in her arms as gently as possible before taking off down the street. The clinic was close. She could hardly see through the burning blur in her vision, but she knew the way by heart with as many times as she’d been there.

Pearl burst through the door, calling out before she was even fully through, “Garnet?! Steven?!”

“Bring her to the back.” Garnet said, already beside the door. Waiting for them. “Steven’s waiting.”

Pearl followed the instructions gladly. Steven was there, gloves and coat already on. They went into action as soon as she set Jasper on the table. As quick as it was from a human perspective, it all looked so sickeningly slow to her, the stress and panic sharpening her reflexes despite there being nothing to fight, nothing to do.

It had the uncanny effect of making the pain that much slower. Making the heart monitor slowing to a crawl and Steven’s panicked face losing hope less like her still heart being ripped from her chest, and more like someone pressing a knife between her ribs and twisting.

“Pearl I… There’s nothing more I can do.” Steven said, a couple of the tears in his eyes finally making their way down his cheeks. “I healed the wounds, but she’s lost too much blood.”

Pearl opened her mouth, but nothing came out. 

Then, the smell of werewolf filled her lungs. “I might be able to do something.”

Pearl whirled around, eyes narrowed, but relaxed a fraction when she saw it was Amethyst. She wondered why she was there, but had more pressing matters. “What do you mean? How?”

“I can turn her.”

Every hair on Pearl’s body stood on end at the suggestion. Werewolf transformations were a lot faster than vampires. And while they were usually more successful and managed to bring many back from the brink of death, failed attempts were a lot more painful and violent. There were so many things to consider, but a stutter on the heart monitor made her mind for her.

“Do it.”

Amethyst nodded and motioned towards the basement. “Bring her down, I can’t do it up here.”

Steven unhooked the IV and wires with practiced efficiency and Pearl picked her up again. Her fading scent had begun to mingle with the sour smell of oncoming death and it twisted Pearl’s stomach. She moved faster.

“Just lay her down.” Pearl did as she was told and Amethyst jerked a thumb towards the door. “Now you gotta go.”

Pearl opened her mouth to protest, but Amethyst shook her head. “You can’t be down here when she changes.  _ If _ she changes. With how weak she is, it can turn south real fast and she doesn’t need more smells and sounds and people confusing her.”

Pearl’s mouth clacked shut and after half a second of hesitation, she forced herself to walk upstairs. But… she couldn’t bring herself to go far from the door before her knees started to buckle. There was Garnet again, giving her an arm to hold onto. Sometimes having a psychic for a best friend was infuriating. Other times -when she couldn’t get any words passed trembling lips and her throat tightened painfully- she couldn’t be more grateful.

The sounds coming from the basement didn’t make her any less anxious. Growls and screams -some of which she was  _ sure _ were Jasper’s- echoed through the house, as if there wasn’t a door between them and whatever was happening in the basement.

When Garnet went to help Steven with something in the kitchen, Pearl sat down next to the door. She knew it wasn’t helping to hear all of it, but there was nowhere else to go, nothing else to do. All she could do now was wait. That made Pearl grind her teeth.

Suddenly, all the noise stopped. Pearl lurched to her feet. She held her breath, but couldn’t hear anything other than low murmurs, couldn’t smell anything but werewolf, couldn’t see anything but that plain wooden door. The quiet made her nerves fray further, but she didn’t dare go down before Amethyst gave the all clear.

Seconds ticked by lazily, as if not understanding that Pearl was fighting a losing battle with herself not to rip the door off of it’s hinges. 

“You can come down now, Pearl.”

Pearl flashed into the basement faster than she could think. There was blood on the floor, ripped up pieces of fabric, tipped over and smashed boxes that Pearl vaguely hoped weren’t full of anything fragile, Amethyst standing near the far wall, and -most importantly- a huge wolf circling and sniffing in the middle of the room with flicking ears and a growling stomach. 

Or rather, it looked like a wolf at first glance. It’s coat hung strangely, as if it’s skin didn’t quite match it’s shape. It’s muscles shifted under, as if not quite sure where they should be.

“J-Jasper?” She rasped.

It’s head raised abruptly, tail giving a faint wag before ambling over. Jasper sniffed curiously at Pearl’s face. Jasper herself smelled much different, but underneath there were still strong undertones of the scent made her Jasper.

Relief flooded through her, making her knees wobble. She wrapped her arms around her neck, giving her a gentle squeeze. “I’m so glad you’re okay.” She sniffled into the thick fur at her neck.

Jasper licked her across the face. It was more than a little disgusting, but Pearl couldn’t find it in herself to carer.

“Change back.” Amethyst commanded, a strange undertone in her voice.

Jasper’s body reacted immediately, a powerful shudder wracking her before she started to change. It was fast. She’d seen Amethyst shift a handful of times, but seeing it up close, having her arms wrapped around Jasper while it happened, was much more startling. 

A growl started, only to turn into a pained groan. And, suddenly, she had her arms wrapped around a very human, very naked Jasper.

Pearl sputtered at the realization, but Jasper’s arms were already around her. That was different too. Jasper’s hugs were always good, but now they squeezed  _ hard _ . She could feel the squeeze in her ribs and it made her gasp.

“Pearl.” Jasper murmured, giving her another tight squeeze that Pearl was starting to love.

“Woah there, Jasper.” Amethyst spoke up, coming over with a blanket.

Pearl was released, no less flustered now that she could  _ see _ all of the muscle and skin that had been pressed against her. She was sure if her heart still beat it would’ve thumped it’s way out of her chest by now. She ducked her head, clearing her throat in hopes of gaining back a bit of her thought process.

Jasper took the blanket gratefully, draping it over her shoulders and sitting heavily on the ground.

The basement door opened, Garnet coming down and bringing the scent of food with her. “Steven made you pancakes.” She said, handing the plate over.

“Thank you.” Jasper’s voice was hoarse. “I’m starving.”

When Garnet retreated back up the stairs, Amethyst sat down, back against the wall and looking a little worse for wear. “Alright Jasp, I’m gonna tell you the deal, but it’s gotta be fast. We don’t have a lot of time, so try to keep up.”

Jasper nodded, a pancake already halfway in her mouth.

“You’re a werewolf. Probably no surprise by now. Being this new this close to the full moon is bad news. You’re not gonna be able to control the changes. You’re not gonna be feral or anything, just  _ hungry _ . Like, so hungry that you’ll rip a dumpster in half for a week old pizza crust.”

Pearl listened with rapt attention, gripping her stomach nervously.

“So you’re gonna have to be somewhere remote for a while, until you can control it. Lucky for us, I’ve got some friends out in the country that’ll be glad to give us a place to stay while I show you the ropes and make sure you’re not gonna hurt yourself or anyone else.”

She pulled her phone out of her pocket. It now sported a huge crack down the middle and she let out a curse. “As soon as you’re done eating, we gotta be on our way.”

That was… a lot. She couldn’t even imagine how Jasper felt. She’d been twitching and fidgeting since she changed back, eyes slightly unfocused and nostrils flaring. When Pearl had first turned, she had to lay motionless for almost an entire day just to keep from being overwhelmed. It must be even worse for werewolves.

What twisted her stomach in knots even more was that she was the whole reason Jasper was in this situation. She didn’t ask to be like this, Pearl did this to her.

 

Jasper took in the farm through the dirty windshield. Crops spread out over acres. Mostly corn, but a few other vegetables here and there. In the middle of it all stood a run down barn.

True to her word, Amethyst had ushered her to the car almost as soon as she’d eaten, the only pause was for Pearl to run to her apartment and grab Jasper a new set of clothes. They’d driven for almost the entire day, stopping to go through a drive through and inhale a few burgers. What they didn’t eat, Amethyst stashed in the back seat.

They got out of Amethyst’s truck, Jasper flinching at the sound of the doors closing. The drive over was a blur, with every sound like a fighter jet taking off next to her and every smell fogging up her head. Even the sound of their feet crunching over the dirt and rocks that led up to the barn turned her face to a grimace. Luckily, the air here didn’t smell as strongly as when they were in the city. She could take a deep breath without immediately feeling nauseous.

She tried not to focus on it.

“So am I just here until I can control the change?”

“As much as you can. None of us can really control it on the full moon, but you can run with my fam. We always raid the Denny’s in the morning, they don’t even bat an eye.” She said, coming to a stop in front of the barn. “I’ll have to teach you a few other things, but we’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”

The barn looked a whole lot bigger when they were standing in front of it. It turned out the barn was only partially run down. It had a patchwork of newer panels and siding all over it. Even some of the shingles on the roof had been replaced.

“Yo Peri! Lapis!”

A clamor of clanging and scrambling made it’s way from the back of the barn all the way up to the front until a woman as short as Amethyst squeezed through the gap in the doors.

“Amethyst!” She squealed, charging Amethyst at a dead sprint and flinging herself onto her. Amethyst barely budged, but let out a throaty chuckle and hugged her back. “It’s so good to see you! Lapis and I have made so many more morps, you’ve got to see them!”

Her eyes caught Jasper and she twitched a bit, half hiding behind Amethyst. “Is this who you were talking about?”

“Yup.” She said, popping the P.

“Wow, you’re big.” 

“I get that a lot.”

The woman inspected her for a moment, before coming out from behind Amethyst and marching up to her. She stuck a hand out, “I’m Peridot.”

Jasper took her hand -gently, she remembered- and shook it. “I’m Jasper.”

“I’m Lapis.” A new voice spoke.

Jasper jolted. You’d think with the more sensitive hearing, she would’ve heard her come out. Or at least caught the nearly overpowering smell of weed that she brought with her. Lapis leaned against the door to the barn, content to keep her distance. Jasper was content to give her space.

“So you’re a werewolf now, huh?” Peridot spoke up. She’d gone back to twitching, her hands holding each other. “Must be a shock.”

Jasper was entirely unsure how to feel about them, but they were letting her stay for a while. It couldn’t hurt to be nice. “Yeah. It’s taking some getting used to.”

“Well, you can stay with us in the barn while you’re here. But- Just try not to tear up any of the crops, harvest is coming soon.”

“Yeah, okay. Thanks.”

Peridot grinned, “No problem. Getting used to new powers and what not is really difficult. Lapis and I get what you’re going through.”

Jasper was about to ask what kind of powers she had, but Amethyst cut her off.

“Alright, come with me Jazz. It’s gonna start soon.” She said, squinting towards the quickly setting sun.

Jasper winced. That wasn’t ominous at all. She followed nonetheless. Amethyst grabbed the burgers out of the car and they started walking. Jasper watched the crops and fields around them give way to forest until they came to a small clearing

“You’re gonna want to take those off.” She said, motioning to Jasper’s clothes.

“Um.”

“You’ll get used to it.” Amethyst was already pulling her’s off. “ They don’t have any clothes that’ll fit you. So, unless you’re fine with being naked for the rest of the week, I suggest you take them off.”

Jasper sighed, but relented. She wasn’t against being naked, but it was different to be naked in the woods with a near stranger. She looked down at herself, noting that the injuries from the car hitting her had faded to light scars. It was weird to think that not even a day ago, she was lying by the side of the road, bleeding out. She probably would’ve died, if not for Pearl.

She shuddered, and decided not to think about it.

A beam of light broke through the thick leaves above them. The sudden light was a shock to Jasper’s sensitive eyes and she squinted up. The moon was round and yellow, only a sliver away from being full.

Then, it was happening. A strangled yelp left her as her bones and muscles started moving under her skin with sickening noises. It was a blur of pain, until it finally stopped. And when it did, everything was different.

It was strange, getting used to being on all fours. But Amethyst was there, still human -but there. The discomfort of having a stranger watching her, quickly turned to relief at not going through this alone. It helped that she had a bag of food in her hand.

Amethyst grinned at her twitching nose, putting the bag down and unwrapping some of the burgers for Jasper. Her pride wasn’t too keen on her eating fast food off the ground, but she was just too  _ hungry _ to pay it any mind.

The rest of the night was spent in a blur of running through the woods, giddy with the newfound speed and power. It was intoxicating.

And when the night was over and her body changed back, she sluggishly pulled on her clothes and they trekked back to the barn.

There was a shortage of beds, but they managed to throw some hay into a pile and drape a thick blanket over it. She couldn’t find it in herself to care, collapsing face first into it and falling asleep before it even settled around her.

The first couple days were hazy memories of running through the forest at night, and sleeping and eating unholy amounts of food during the day. Apparently Amethyst had driven down to the nearest town to pick up a lot more food while she slept.

It was on the third day when things finally slid into sharp focus. The smells and lights and sounds were still intense, but she got used to them. It was the same with shifting, it was nearly painless now. In fact, she looked forward to it.

“Alright, we’re gonna try something different tonight.” Amethyst said when they got to the forest. She hadn’t taken off her clothes this time and held a bag that smelled fantastic. “Go ahead and change.”

Jasper took a couple of deep breaths. The second day had been a lot of shifting back and forth. It was different than letting it happen when she saw the moon. More controlled. It felt less like her body was twisting and warping against her will, and more like she was just stretching after a nap.

Soon, she sat in the cold grass, fully shifted and gazing at Amethyst curiously. That smell had intensified and her growling stomach was yearning for it.

Amethyst grinned at her, and out of the bag came a steak. Jasper’s eyes locked onto it and her tail gave an embarrassing wag -she still wasn’t used to that.

“Jasper,” Amethyst waved a hand to grab her attention. “I’m gonna set this in front of you.  _ Don’t _ eat it.”

Jasper’s tail stopped wagging immediately. She watched as the steak was set down in front of her. It smelled  _ good _ . And she knew it would taste good too. She’d come to learn that Amethyst made the  _ best _ steaks-

Before she knew it, half of it was in her mouth.

“Hey!” Amethyst laughed, grabbing the other end. After a brief tug o war, she had divested Jasper of the steak and held it away from her, laughing so hard she had to prop herself up on a nearby tree. Jasper gave an irritated growl, glad that the fur hid the heat in her face.

“Let’s try that again.”

The night carried on like that. It was a miracle that Jasper held herself back. After the first incident, it got easier. And by the end of the night, she didn’t even have to pay attention to it anymore. It was nice to just take in the night and the wind in her fur. That didn’t stop her from inhaling it when Amethyst said they were done.

The next few nights were different. Amethyst had her following scents through the forest the forest. Peridot and Lapis helped out with that, weaving winding paths through the forest that became more and more difficult and convoluted.

She didn’t take to it at first, losing the trails or picking up something entirely different. But by the end she was following faster than they could make them, even with an hour head start.

It got less tiring. She didn’t have to sleep as much -and while she still ate  _ a lot _ , it was a considerable amount less than the first few days. Now she could get up around noon and help out on the farm until the next lesson. Peridot and Lapis appreciated the help.

The full moon came and left with Amethyst teaching her to hunt.

Finally, the last night had her laying out in the field with the sky stretched out before her, staring up at the moon. Amethyst lay beside her, hands behind her head and dozing off. All Jasper had to do was sit back and watch the moon without shifting. She thought it was going to be hard, but after the initial urge it was just relaxing. 

And it gave her much needed time to gather her thoughts after everything that happened. She’d been so busy eating or sleeping or learning or working that she hadn’t had time to think about how everything felt.

It turned out that what she felt wasn’t all that interesting. She didn’t know if it was a delayed reaction or if she was just fine with it all, but Jasper felt oddly calm about everything. It wasn’t a shock that werewolves existed, Pearl had told her as much. And while it was a strange adjustment to count herself as one, she had Pearl waiting for her back home and Amethyst beside her. She’d come to be a rather comforting presence in the past week -despite her sometimes vexing humor.  Even Peridot and Lapis and Amethyst’s family were there for her.

Jasper sighed. She missed Pearl.

Amethyst snorted and sat up when the sky started to turn orange. She took a moment to before looking over at Jasper.

“Anything?”

“Nope.”

“Then we’re ready to go home.”

Goodbyes were brief. Lapis gave them and absent wave from her spot next to the sculpture she was working on. Peridot gave them a sleepy goodbye, telling them to come and visit again soon. Even offering Jasper work on the farm if her job didn’t work out. Not that she was hoping her job didn’t work out -she assured quickly- but, you know, just in case.

Jasper gave her a hug and gave Lapis a returning wave. Then, they were on their way.

With everything a little less overwhelming, she had the chance to appreciate the trees passing them by and the vacant plains on the ride back. She liked listening to the half-static songs on the radio and even the relaxed, almost lazy silence that Amethyst could keep.

It was when they were about an hour away from the city when Amethyst spoke up. “Pearl isn’t going to be able to drink your blood anymore. She’s gonna have to go back to her old habits or figure out some new ones. You can’t get all jealous, no matter which she decides to do.” She said, glancing away from the road to look at Jasper.

“I won’t.” Jasper agreed easily. It would be shitty to get upset over something she had to do to survive.

“On the bright side, neither of you can infect each other.” She turned onto the freeway and sped up, “How weird would that be? A vampire werewolf? A vampwolf? Werepire?”

Jasper snorted, “You think  _ that’s _ weird?”

“Good point.”

Amethyst opened and closed her mouth a few times, as if about to say something but changing her mind. Finally, she sighed and said, “There’s not really a polite way to say it: When you two bang-”

Jasper interrupted her with a strangled yelp, but she continued with a laugh.

“When you two bang, make sure there aren’t any nosy neighbors around.” Then, more serious, “Every smell and touch is gonna be ramped up to eleven, and it’s gonna be real hard to keep control. So just, be careful.”

They hadn’t really done anything of the sort since they started dating. Jasper was no stranger to sex, but even the thought of  _ Pearl _ like that brought a fresh wave of heat to her face. And -she realized when Amethyst burst into raucous laughter- made her sprout ears and a tail.

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Jasper grumbled when Amethyst’s laughter had died down a bit.

Amethyst mumbled something about ‘puppy love’, and Jasper  _ groaned _ .

 

Pearl set the last screw into the steel bed frame that took up nearly half the room. The room itself was supposed to be Jasper’s six month present before… before everything happened.

Pearl wasn’t keen on sleeping. She didn’t really need to sleep, so the couch had been fine enough whenever she wanted to take a nap. But Jasper  _ did  _ sleep. Pearl didn’t want her to have to stay on the couch every time she stayed over. She swore she heard her spine creak last time.

So, she cleaned out her old room -it was honestly just full of papers and books that she could put elsewhere. She gave the walls a fresh coat of paint- orange, Jasper’s favorite color. And set a little dresser in the corner, filling it with the clothes Jasper left over.

The bed was the only problem. The one she had bought was fine when Jasper was human. But now that she was a lot stronger, wood wasn’t an option. She had to redesign it, make a trip to the hardware store, and ask Greg to let her use his garage.

She’d spent the week on it. And when she wasn’t working on it, she found herself falling into old habits and pacing anxiously in her living room. The TV there reminded her of Jasper in a worried, heart twisting way. But it provided helpful background noise. And she liked the cooking channel quite a bit, for someone who didn’t eat.

Now, she had the soft bed with shining metal frame in front of her. She sat on the ground and heaved a sigh, looking up at the ceiling. Once again, all she could do was wait.

This time, she didn’t even have to wait for a minute before someone knocked on her door and she gasped, lurching to her feet and striding over to pull it open. It was Jasper, smiling down at her. “Hey Pearl.”

Pearl’s arms were wrapped around her before she could even think, head buried in her shoulder.

A low chuckle vibrated in Jasper’s chest and big arms wrapped around Pearl’s waist, giving her a squeeze. “I missed you too.”

That burst the dam. All of the stress and worry and guilt poured out onto Jasper’s shoulder as a few muffled sobs wracked her.

“I’m so sorry Jasper.” She hiccuped, gripping handfuls of her shirt. “I shouldn’t have agreed to it without knowing how you’d feel about it, you wouldn’t have even been in that situation if not for me. I j-just wanted you to stay  _ alive _ .”

Jasper shushed her gently, rubbing circles in her back. When Pearl’s shaking slowed, she pulled back to hold Pearl’s shoulders. “You’ve got nothing to be sorry for, Pearl. Look at me. I’m alive because of you. You literally saved my life.” A wide smile split her face and she pressed a kiss to Pearl’s head. “It’s been rough, but I’d rather be a werewolf than dead.”

Pearl let out a watery giggle when Jasper scooped her up into her arms and carried her over to the couch. It was nice to just sit together and relax with the droning of the TV in the background. Pearl kept her arms wound tight around Jasper. Not all of the guilt was gone, but it’s at least made room for her to just be happy that Jasper was back.

As day turned to night, Pearl found the will untangle herself and make them a meal. Well, make Jasper a meal big enough for both of them. Amethyst had told her about Jasper’s new appetite, and the cooking channel was good for something.

It was after Jasper ate her fill -the rest put in the fridge for later- that Pearl gathered the courage to ask, her hands twisting together nervously. “Can I see you while you’re shifted?”

“Yeah, of course.” Jasper said, smiling as she stood and unceremoniously started pulling off her clothes.

Pearl turned quickly, letting out a sound of surprise. Jasper’s laugh trailed off and Pearl winced a bit at the sound of bones and muscles moving. When it stopped, she turned back to take in the sight of Jasper shifted.

It was different than the first time. Her body seemed to have taken to the form better, skin no longer straining, muscles relaxed. Her eyes were sharper and mouth stretch up in a grin. She looked majestic, almost regal sitting there on Pearl’s rug. The one thing that shattered the image was the way her splotchy white and brown fur stuck up in every direction.

“Oh goodness, your fur is so unkept!” She gasped. She would certainly fix that. In the blink of an eye, she was gone and back with a brush in her hand. Jasper let out a huff that sounded suspiciously like a laugh, but lay down patiently to let Pearl brush the knots and tangles out of her fur. 

Pearl hummed happily when it was all smoothed out. The fluff and shine was more obvious now, warm and soft. Jasper had fallen asleep a few minutes in, snoring peacefully. Pearl felt a little smile pull at her lips. She let it grow, burying her face in the soft fur on Jasper’s side, a giddy feeling in her chest. “You’re so fluffy.” She giggled, “And  _ snugly _ and-”

She cut off with another startled sound when the fur against her face quickly turned to skin. “I’m glad you think so.” Jasper murmured sleepily. She let out a laugh when Pearl scrambled to cover her with a blanket, but stopped abruptly. “Oh, hey I never gave you your present.”

Pearl watched curiously as Jasper retrieved a small package from her pile of clothes. In all of her planning and scrambling over Jasper’s gift, she forgot that Jasper was getting her one too. The package was plain and sensible. Pearl opened it and pulled out a necklace. The chain was tinged a light pink, leading down to a golden crescent moon.

Jasper huffed a laugh, rubbing the back of her neck. “I thought it was nice when I got it, but now it’s sort of ironic, huh?”

Pearl grinned wide, giggling and fastening it around her neck. “Ironic or not, I adore it. Thank you Jasper.”

Jasper smiled and Pearl leaned over to kiss her, sighing happily. A devilish idea struck her. She grabbed Jasper’s hand tugging gently. “I still have to show you your present!”

Jasper let Pearl lead her down the hallway, her eyes growing wide when she pushed open the door to the newly put together room. She looked around, giving a whistle. “Wow, this is amazing Pearl. I didn’t know you were into interior design.”

Pearl flushed with pride. She sauntered over to the bed, smoothing out he covers with a hand. “You know, I made the bed myself.” She gave Jasper a smirk that she hoped was seductive. “Do you want to help me break it in?”

Jasper made a series of noises that Pearl found rather flattering, before nodding rapidly. Pearl giggled and -before she could let nerves get to her- pulled off her shirt in one quick motion.

Jasper huffed once, twice, then let out a loud, long howl.

Pearl looked at her with wide eyes, but her surprise quickly dissolved into -only half hidden- laughter. Jasper’s face turned a stunning shade of red, but she let out her own laugh and tackled Pearl to the bed.

Pearl realized, a while later, that the bed held up very well - but the walls and floor had not. She’d have to think about remodelling the whole room at this point. At least, after she took a nap.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning for a somewhat graphic description of blood!

Pearl set her groceries down outside the door to fish her keys out of her pocket, humming a happy tune. Even if she wasn’t fond of eating, it was about the fourth full moon since Jasper had been changed and she always appreciated a good meal when she woke up. Pearl appreciated the way Jasper showed her appreciation.

When she finally got the door open, her humming stopped abruptly. The smell of blood hit her full in the face making a sudden worry twist in her stomach.

She’d expected Jasper to be peacefully slumbering in the room - and maybe Amethyst taking a nap on the couch. Instead, she found Jasper sitting on a big tarp in the middle of her living room with Amethyst stitching up one of the  _ many _ wounds that littered her skin.

Pearl was over in a flash, kneeling next to her. She wanted to reach out, but was unsure if she would make it worse. “Jasper! Are you okay? What happened?” She asked, voice high and tight with worry.

“I’m okay.” Jasper murmured, “It’s not fatal or anything. It just hurts.”

“We had a run in with another pack.” Amethyst explained, pulling some bandages out of a red stained bag at her feet, “They’re… rivals, I guess. They tried to muscle in on our territory-”

“The part with the Denny’s.” Jasper grumbled. Ever since she’d been turned, she’d slowly built up a fierce love for the Denny’s on the edge of town.

“Yeah, we fought them off but…” She nodded to Jasper, “Fluffy here got pretty banged up.”

Jasper’s face turned a shade darker, but she heaved a sigh and swallowed her pride. “I was… overconfident. I’m still used to being the biggest one on the block.”

Amethyst patted her shoulder. “Don’t be so gloomy. You’re the biggest in our pack for sure.”

Jasper perked a bit at that and Pearl held back a giggle. Her skin still prickled at the memory of when Jasper was first turned, but was slowly settling.  _ This _ wasn’t like that. Jasper was fine. A rival pack certainly explained why the wounds hadn’t healed yet. Damage dealt by other supernatural beings were much slower to heal.

She squeezed Jasper’s hand.

“Alright,” Amethyst announced, tucking in the last bandage, “It’s gonna be quite a while before you’re up and moving around.”

Jasper looked like she might protest, but Amethyst shook her head. “I don’t mean that as a suggestion, I mean you really need to chill or you  _ will _ rip a stitch and start bleeding out again. I’m not a doctor and I can’t come over all the time to patch you up because you were impatient.”

She grumbled, but gave Amethyst a nod.

Amethyst got up and stretched -showing a few of her own bandaged wounds- and headed for the door. “Just take it easy and you’ll be fine.” Then, flashing Pearl a mischievous grin, “and no  _ strenuous activities _ .”

Jasper growled after her as she shut the door.

“I suppose we’re going to have to add more iron rich food to your diet.” Pearl murmured, looking down at the bloody tarp. Oh, it had even soaked through the knees of her jeans. She  _ liked _ those jeans.

 

As it turned out, Jasper didn’t take well to being cooped up. By the end of the first day, she was pacing and fidgeting, already bored with the tv. 

Then she started  _ cleaning _ . Pearl was used to keeping things rather neat, but Jasper had fixed her leaky faucet, oiled the squeaky hinges on her doors, and scrubbed every inch of the apartment by the third day. She had even,  _ briefly _ , tried to tend to Pearl’s garden. Briefly indeed. She nearly killed them and Pearl had to chase her out.

“Jasper.” Pearl said, tucked into one of the corners of the couch with a book in hand. Her eyes followed Jasper as she paced; as much as she adored her, Pearl was at her wit’s end. “I have hundreds of books. You could always read one.”

Jasper’s pacing slowed to a stop, eyebrows knitting together in thought. “I guess I could try that…”

She ambled over to one of the book cases that littered the apartment browsing for a moment before plucking one off the shelf and settling down next to her.

Pearl let out a quiet, relieved sigh. Finally.  _ Peace _ .

She turned back to her own book, relaxing against the couch to read.

Jasper was restless, even as she read. Pearl didn’t mind that. Seeing her eyebrows knit together out of the corner of her eye or hearing the quiet snort when she thought something was funny was more endearing than annoying.

It was when she was reading one of the larger volumes that she spoke up, “I’m really glad Disney toned some of these down, they’re really intense.”

Pearl leaned over to see what she was reading. It was an old book of fairy tales she that she got… well, she didn’t actually remember when or how she got it. She’d been collecting books for a few centuries, so wasn’t sure where’d she’d obtained most of them. “What’s Disney?”

Jasper stared at her, face shuffling through a whole deck of expressions before settling on disbelief. “You’ve never… seen a Disney movie? Little Mermaid? Aladdin? The Incredibles!?  _ Please tell me you’ve seen The Incredibles _ !”

Pearl didn’t know why she was so surprised. She hadn’t even had a tv before Jasper came along. “Well, no.”

Jasper’s face ran the gambit again before she stood up and pocketed her keys, “I’ll be right back.”

“Wait-”

“Don’t worry, I’m not going to do anything strenuous.” She assured quickly. And with that, she was gone.

Pearl hesitated, confused at the sudden turn the evening had taken, but eventually just decided to go back to her book.

A thud on the door some time later signalled Jasper’s return. Strange, considering she had a key.

Pearl opened up the door eyeing the pile of popcorn and soda in Jasper’s arms. She had a bag slung around her shoulder and a small piece of paper clenched in one hand.

“Jasper, what in the world…”

“Do you have enough blood to last you the week?”

“Uh, yes.”

“Good.” She set the armful of snacks on the counter, opening the bag. “I have passwords for every streaming site I can think of, a laptop, and a list of every Disney and Pixar film Amethysts family thought was even halfway decent.”

Pearl saw where this was going. Well… it had been quite a while since she’d binged on something. At least not since she visited the library of Alexandria. “I’ll make the popcorn.”

Jasper grinned.

Soon, the laptop was hooked up to the tv and a big bowl of popcorn sat on the coffee table as they started The Little Mermaid.

 

“So what do you think so far?” Jasper asked, poking at one of the stitches on her shoulder.

Pearl gently swatted her hand away, covering them with bandages. “Well, Alice in Wonderland was a bit… nonsensical for my tastes. But I did enjoy Wall-E quite a bit.”

They’d burned through a lot of them, many of them rather old. Pearl didn’t really get it at first, but they were quickly growing on her. She was done for the night, but was rather excited to keep watching the next day.

The next day was much the same. She’d taken to humming -or bursting into song, but that was  _ rare _ \- when Jasper and her were preparing meals. Jasper kept her giggling to a minimum, even joining in when she started singing songs from Frozen. It was apparently one of her favorites.

One hitch in their plan was the more… emotional titles.

Pearl kept her face firmly buried in Jasper’s shoulder as the end of The Fox and The Hound played. She’d like to say that she got a little choked up and shed a few tears. But the reality was that she was sobbing loudly on Jasper as a big hand patted her back. It was even worse with Iron Giant.

In the final stretch, Pearl traced the newly healed scars while they watched the end of Emporers New Groove.

When the credits started rolling, both were exhausted and emotionally drained. Pearl got up and stretched. She didn’t get stiff -she’d slept in a coffin for a few years straight, a movie marathon was nothing- but movies taking up the bulk of her days for the better part of a week had left her fatigued.

She picked up the big bowl that had seen  _ many _ bags of popcorn and took it to the kitchen, picking up a couple of wrappers on the way.

When she stepped back into the living room, Jasper stared blankly at the menu screen, fingers fidgeting with a loose thread on the couch.

She sidled over, perching on the arm. “Is there… something on your mind?”

“Why can’t you drink my blood?” She asked after a moment.

Pearl tilted her head, but Jasper didn’t meet her eyes. “I don’t mean in like, a jealous way or anything.”

There had been a small hiccup where Jasper had a… negative reaction to Pearl finding someone to feed on at the bar. It seemed that not being jealous was easier said than done, but they had worked through that and it was in the past.

“I just mean, Amethyst said that you wouldn’t be able to feed on me, but never really told me why.”

“Oh!” Pearl smiled, “Well… the simplest explanation is that, when you became a werewolf, your body changed on a physical and spiritual level. There’s an aspect of regular humans, a vitality, or life force, that most supernatural lack since we’re basically immortal. Undead, for lack of a better word.”

“I could honestly go on and on about dna and anatomical differences, but that would require a  _ long _ lecture and a chalkboard, so I doubt it’d be very interesting.”

“So you can still drink my blood?” A flush started high in her cheekbones and spread across her nose.

“Of course! Though it would be like eating a bag of sugar. Lot’s of substance, but no nutritional value. Why would…” Pearl trailed off as Jasper’s face turned darker and darker.

She hopped off the arm of the couch, sauntering behind it where Jasper couldn’t see the devilish grin that pulled at her lips. “Oh, I think I remember. You asked when we first met. You  _ wanted _ me to bite you. Do you still want that now?”

She let her finger’s trace the tendon in Jasper’s neck before laying her hand against it firmly. Pearl licked her lips at the way Jasper’s pulse hammered against her hand. She made a slow trek from just under her ear to just above her collarbone.

“Your heart is racing so fast, so  _ strong _ .” She hummed, leaning down to let her lips rest on Jasper’s shoulder.  _ God _ , she could practically taste her already. “I can feel it coursing through you, so hot and thick. Do you want me to bite you Jasper?”

Jasper nodded feverishly, head tilting to the side, baring her neck.

Pearl eyed the throbbing vein, swallowing hard. She ran her tongue over sharp teeth, but held back a moment longer. “I want to hear you say it, Jasper.”

She dragged in a ragged breath as Pearl pulled at the collar of her shirt. Her body shuddered, voice coming out low and rasping. “ _ Please _ bite me, Pearl.”

The wait was worth it. Jasper’s low voice begging raised goosebumps along her skin. It took a huge effort not to bob up on her toes and grin wildly.

“ _ Good girl. _ ” 

She finally let her lips wander up the side of Jasper’s neck, gently cradling her head, and bit down.

Jasper hissed a breath in through her teeth, letting it out in a long groan that had Pearl’s head spinning as the intoxicating taste rushed over her tongue. Her toes curled in her flats as she let it was over her. Thick and rich and sweet with a heady burn. She was caught between taking the time to savor and just gulping it down. But, she couldn’t take too much.

Pearl pulled herself back, pleased not only with the rush that came from the blood -from biting someone directly for the first time in centuries, but with seeing Jasper panting with lips parted and eyes lidded. She wished she could take a picture and hang it in a pretty frame in her living room.

“That’s gonna scar if you’re not careful.” A voice spoke.

Pearl’s head turned to see Amethyst leaning against the door. She almost regretted giving her a key.

“Unless you want to keep it as a mate mark, I suggest you bite where nobody can see.”

Jasper groaned, pressing her face into her hands. “What do you want, Amethyst?”

“Well, I came to check up on you, but now I feel like I have to  _ scold _ you.” She huffed, then turned on Pearl, “When - _ and only when _ \- she fully heals, she’ll replenish in no time. As long as you keep the biting to a single area and control your  _ thirst _ .” She wiggled her eyebrows and Pearl let out a huff. Trust Amethyst to scold and tease in the same breath.

“I’ll have the fam send you a list of meals that help them out. That being said,” She pulled a spray bottle off her belt, aiming it at Pearl and squeezing, “Bad vampire.”

It was only water, but Pearl hopped away. Still riding the rush, she could only muster enough annoyance for a plaintive hiss and half hearted glare, ignoring the fact that Jasper clasped a hand over her mouth to stifle a bout of giggles.


	4. Chapter 4

Pearl liked to think of herself as a patient person - well, vampire. She’d stayed buried in a coffin for a few years after an  _ unfortunate misunderstanding _ , listened to vampire slayers babble pointlessly about their favorite type of pasta while she staked out their base, and even waited patiently in line at the dmv when she’d misplaced her driver’s license and needed a new one.

So, when Jasper started getting antsy and anxious around the beginning of November, she simply waited. Shel was sure that, given enough time, she’d talk to Pearl about what was bothering her and they could figure it out from there.

It was as bad as when she was confined to the apartment; somehow worse, with Jasper fully mobile now and damn near climbing the walls every time Pearl saw her.

She lasted two week before realizing that she’d greatly overestimated how patient she was in the face of her anxious girlfriend. Now -with Jasper pinned under her in the middle of the living room and Pearl staring intently into her eyes- she realized she probably should’ve asked sooner. Better late than never.

She pressed her hands gently to Jasper’s cheeks, inhaling very slowly. “Jasper, honey, I love you, but you’re driving me insane.  _ Please _ tell me what’s wrong.”

“Thanksgiving is coming up.” She muttered.

“Yes?”

“I’ll be spending it with my family, and I’d like it if you came with. But I’m going to have to tell them that I’m-”

“A werewolf.”

“A lesbian.” She finished. Her eyes widened when she registered what Pearl said and there was another flurry of squirming and flailing before Pearl managed to pin her again. “Fuck, I forgot about that!”

Pearl loved Jasper dearly, but had no idea what to do with her sometimes. “Please clarify.”

“My mom and dad will probably be fine with it, but my aunts - they’re massive homophobes.” She growled, nose wrinkling. “And I don’t think  _ any _ of them are gonna be able to handle the whole ‘I’m a werewolf dating a vampire’ thing.”

Pearl thought for a moment, eyebrows knitting together. “I suppose we can keep the supernatural aspects a secret for now. As for your aunts…” Pearl huffed, “Well, they’re just going to have to deal with it.”

“Okay.” Jasper breathed, her whole body a rapidly deflating balloon as the tension left her. “Okay. Yes.”

“We’re… going to have to work on your control though.”

“What do you mean?”

Pearl pointed to the fluffy ears that had sprouted at the mere mention of her aunts. “Those  _ might _ just give away your secret.”

“ _ Fuck _ .”

“It’s alright. I have a plan that might just help with that.”

She settled once more. All these ups and downs couldn’t be good for her heart.

“And Jasper?”

“Yeah?”

“Everything is going to be okay. I have your back.”

“Thank you.”

 

Pearl had a lot more fun planning than she expected. The look on Jasper’s face when she came home the next day to find Pearl in nothing but an oversized t-shirt assured her that putting the plan in motion would be even better.

“What are you doing?” She swallowed hard, yellow eyes locked on her thighs and voice rough.

Pearl grinned at the rapidly flailing tail that had appeared behind her, “Working on your control.”

The tail stopped wagging, Jasper’s face turning a flattering shade of pink, “I - oh.”

“But-” The tail gave a hopeful swish, “If you manage to make it, there might be a reward for you. You may want to work on that, though.” She pointed at the offending limb.

“Oh - fuck - right.”

After a long moment, it disappeared. Pearl tried not to let her devilish grin show too much. She’d controlled herself for now, but there was still much further to go. 

So, she took to opportunity to tip toe into the bathroom while the shower was running. Jasper couldn’t see her, but she too the care to swing her hips anyhow.

“We’re in a drought, you know.”

She watched Jasper’s silhouette pause. “We are?”

“Yes. They’re saying it could go on for a while. We should work on conserving water.”

“Pearl…”

“Besides, I could always wash your back for you.”

The shower door slid open. Pearl was pleased -and maybe a little disappointed - to see Jasper fully human, despite the dark flush on her cheeks. “Come on in.” 

She tossed her shirt off and hopped in daintily, shuddering at the sudden warmth. She picked up the loofah, taking a moment to admire the stark contrast of the pale stripes on Jasper’s dark skin, running her fingers along them.

Goosebumps rose all over Jasper’s skin, and by the time her hand had made it all the way down it was met with a fluffy tail. Jasper turned and Pearl’s stomach fluttered at the molten look in her eyes. Before she knew it, she was up on her toes pressing a kiss to plush lips.

The cold wall of the shower mixed with the Jasper’s warm body stole her breath. She was glad she didn’t really have to breath. 

Briefly, her senses returned to her. A blush spread over the bridge of her nose as she pressed a halting hand to Jasper’s shoulder. Here she was trying to help Jasper with her control when she hardly had any to her name.

Jasper pulled back, but Pearl swooped in for another quick kiss, lingering by her ear. “If you make it through, I’ll have a reward for you. Now turn around so I can get your back.”

 

The week saw it’s end with Jasper gaining more and more control - despite Pearl losing more and more clothing. That meant it was time to switch gears. 

At first she was… hesitant to  _ try _ to be annoying. The thought of Jasper being upset with her sent a tight coil of anxiety writhing in her stomach. But it was through her relationship with Pearl that Jasper became a werewolf in the first place. So, if Jasper got angry (and she almost wished Jasper would get angry; she still felt the claws of guilt dig into her back sometimes...) she would just deal with it.

“Jasper?” Pearl chirped, looking up from the thick tome she was reading.

Jasper paused her show. “Yeah?”

“Did you know that some snails never move more than fifteen meters from the spot they were born, because of how slow they are and how much energy it takes them to move.”

“That’s … interesting.”

Pearl waited until the show she was watching reached a tense moment, the music peaking and characters talking passionately to each other.

“Jasper?”

“... Yes Pearl?”

“Apparently their vision is awful, but they have a fantastic sense of smell.”

Jasper couldn’t answer, due to her jaw clenching hard enough that Pearl could nearly hear her teeth grind. She waited a while longer, reading a bit more of her book.

“Jasper?”

She watched Jasper face as it rapidly progressed through the five stages of grief, finally settling on grim acceptance. With a deep sigh, she pressed pause. “Yes Pearl?”

“Snails can eat paper and cardboard with no ill effects.”

Jasper took a deep breath, held it, and let it go slowly. “That’s neat.”

Pearl smiled.

 

_ Swish swish - swish swish _ .

“Pearl, what is that?”

Pearl had thought that Jasper would be able to hear her walking around the kitchen, but having it confirmed brought a wicked grin to her face. “What do you mean, darling?”

_ Swish swish - swish swish _

“ _ That sound _ .”

“Oh! I picked up some brand new pants while I was at the store earlier. They really compliment my legs.”

Jasper head poked through the kitchen doorway, eyes that looked halfway to madness locking onto the neon green velcro pants that Pearl was wearing. When she spoke, Pearl almost felt bad at the broken voice, “ _ Why _ ?”

She swished over to pat Jasper’s shoulder. “It will be better when this is all over. You’ll see.”

 

The final nail in the coffin was when Pearl took up the flute. She’d played a number of instruments in her long life, but never anything from the woodwind family. She figured it was better late than never.

But, you see, she was always very busy during the day. After all, she had books to read and a home to keep tidy. So the dead of night, when Jasper was sleeping, happened to be the only available time to practice. 

Though she could admit it was a bit hard to play over Jasper’s groans of barely contained frustration.

 

By the end of the week, Jasper had an iron grip on her self control and frayed nerves from what most people would call torture. Pearl was proud, and maybe a little amused. When she announced that she was done, the stark relief on Jasper’s face was lovely. Not to mention that even Pearl enjoyed watching her tear the noisy velcro pants into a thousand noisy pieces.

When the day finally came, it started out as relaxed as it could. A sleepy morning with a light breakfast and relaxing together while Pearl baked a metric fuck ton of desserts. She was glad she could stop being annoying. She had missed simply resting against Jasper and reading a book.

The time came for them to bundle into the car and hit the road. The sweets Pearl made filled the car with wonderful smells; Jasper had to open a window to keep her mouth from watering. It was only an hour away, but Pearl wanted to leave a bit early to beat the traffic.

The closer they got, the more Jasper fretted. It showed in the hard lines of her shoulders and the darting of her eyes. It was around the halfway point that her leg began to bounce erratically and her fingers started to drum on her thighs.

Pearl pulled over to the side of the road and turned to face her. At the confused look, she simply said, “You’re nervous.”

“Yeah.”

“That’s alright. It’s fine to be nervous.” Jasper opened her mouth, but Pearl took her hand, “You can be nervous all you need, I trust you to keep control. If any of those crusty old bitches say  _ anything _ rude, I’ll tear their throat out.”

“Pearl-!”

“Figuratively!” She giggled. She smiled at the roll of Jasper’s eyes. “It’s going to be alright, you’ll see. Your parents love you and care about you, and I can be  _ very _ charming when I need to be. It helps that I brought enough dessert to last them through December.”

Jasper laughed, but her eyes widened at a realization. “I totally forgot to ask! Can you actually eat food?”

“Well, I have no problem with liquids, and I can consume a very small amount of solid food without a problem.” Pearl’s eyebrows, “Though to sell the whole ‘human at Thanksgiving’ act, I suppose I’ll have to eat a lot.”

“Are you gonna be alright?”

“I… yes. I mean, I’ll either have to deal with a few weeks of stomach pain, or get it out of my system within twelve hours.” At Jasper’s blank look, she clarified, “Vomiting, Jasper. I’d prefer that one honestly, it’s a lot quicker and less painful.”

Jasper grimaced, staying silent for a moment as Pearl started the car again. “What if I just eat your food?”

Pearl glanced over curiously.

“I mean, I’ve always been a big eater, but they’re gonna be a bit suspicious if I eat the whole turkey and half of everything else. I mean, if you can pull it off without anyone noticing.”

A wide smile pulled at Pearl’s lips. “I think I can do that.”

Pearl was relieved to find that most of the tension had run out of her. She kept Jasper’s hand in hers the rest of the way anyhow.

When Pearl pulled up to the large brick house, she couldn’t help but admire the neat garden flanked by a row of rose bushes.

Pearl was dead set on being the calm one, but she felt the familiar curl of anxiety winding around her stomach. She had been so focused on Jasper, that the stark reality that she was about to meet her girlfriends parents had pounced on her while she was still ogling their rose bushes.

She’d been alive for centuries and here she was, feeling like a teenager about to have the ‘what are your intentions with my daughter’ talk. She was lucky to not have to worry about her father sitting on the porch with a shotgun in his lap -being bulletproof and all - but it didn’t do much to quell her nerves.

Nonetheless, she squared her shoulders and took the pies and desserts out of the back seat, following Jasper to the door.

The door swung open before they could even knock, revealing a couple. The woman - who she could only assume to be Jasper’s mom- launched forward to wrap Jasper up in a tight hug.

They were both rather tall, and Jasper’s father had a roundness that contrasted her mother’s hard edges. It was no wonder where Jasper got her build. Curly brown hair was tied into a ponytail at the back of her mother’s head and her mother looked at her with soft eyes, offset by her father’s spiky hair and austere look. Pearl couldn’t help but feel like they were two matching puzzle pieces.

If she were human, sweat would’ve started running down Pearl’s face when they turned curious eyes on her. She plastered on her most pleasant smile and held her hand out. “I’m Pearl, it’s lovely to meet you.”

“I’m Jake.” Her father said, striding forward to clasp her hand in a strong grip. Pearl never quite understood most human’s need to judge someone via handshake, but Jake did not look disappointed, so that was a start.

“Tania.” Her mother spoke up, looking Pearl up and down before pinning Jasper with a questioning look.

“Mom, Dad, Pearl is my uh, girlfriend.”

Their eyebrows went up. Pearl would’ve been impressed by their synchronization if she didn’t feel like she were about to have a heart attack. Could vampires even have heart attacks? It would be embarrassing to be known as the only vampire in history to die of one.

“Girlfriend?” Tania murmured, giving Pearl a closer look. Pearl tried to keep still under the sharp feeling of eyes on her. “Well, come on in.”

Pearl nearly fainted with relief, but she knew she wasn’t out of the park yet. Even if they were alright with Jasper being gay, there was a very real chance that they just wouldn’t like Pearl. It was her time to shine.

“You have such a lovely garden outside! So you tend to it yourself?”

Jake puffed his chest out with a proud grin that took the severe look from his face and replaced it with something a lot more boyish. “Yes, been working on it since we got the house.”

“That’s wonderful. I have an indoor garden at home. How do you deal with the winters?”

And just like that, she was in. It helped that she genuinely adored their garden, not to mention the homemade desserts that made their stomachs rumble. Now she knew where Jasper got it.

Their house was neat and organized, but gave off the inexplicable feeling of home despite that. Pearl quickly found herself growing comfortable, chatting with Jasper and her parents without having to plaster the smile on her face.

It was only when the doorbell that things began to roll steadily downhill.

“You have no idea how long the drive over here was!” A woman in a fluffy white dress said, waltzing in and setting her purse down. “Susan wouldn’t stop yammering the whole way here.”

The woman -probably Susan- followed close after, scowl not fitting the pastel pink skirt and candy red blouse that made Pearl’s eyes burn. “Oh please, if you didn’t have to stop at every gas station on the way over, it wouldn’t have been so bad.”

Red flags raised in Pearl’s head at the subtle tense of Jasper’s muscles.

“Jasper!” She nearly hollered, coming over to give Jasper a kiss on both cheeks, “It’s so good to see you!”

“You too aunt Lillian.” She mumbled.

“And who might you be?” Susan asked, looking at Pearl through narrowed eyes. Pearl held her gaze.

“This is my girlfriend, Pearl.”

Eyebrows rose again - distinctly different from Jake and Tania’s. Susan leaned towards Jasper, speaking in a faux whisper. “I knew you were a tomboy Jasper, but I didn’t think it was  _ this _ bad. Oh, I told your parents not to let you play with all those little cars.”

Pearl could practically see Jasper’s hackles rise. Most likely because the hair on the back of her neck had grown a bit. She stepped forward, laying a gentle hand on Jasper’s arm and acting if she hadn’t just heard the nonsensical drivel that had just come out of this woman’s mouth.  “You must be Susan, It’s so nice to meet you!”

Susan flinched at the force of Pearl’s overly pleasant tone. “I - yes.”

She turned her thousand watt smile on Lillian, watching her frown deepen. “And of course Lillian, I’ve heard so much about you!”

“You have?” She looked as though she couldn’t decide whether to be wary or pleased.

“Dinner’s ready!” Jake called from the dining room, cutting off their execution by verbal draw and quartering. A shame, really. But she couldn’t help the smallest of smirks that graced her face when she saw Tania give them a stern look out of the corner of her eye. As sweet as she seemed, she was clearly not going to tolerate any nastiness in her home. All the better. The werewolves could fight in the woods over territory, and Garnet could do  _ whatever _ it was she did in the astral plane; civilized conversation happened to be Pearl’s preferred battleground.

Her -only  _ slightly _ \- malevolent thoughts were shot clean out of her mind when she saw the spread that Jasper’s parents had set out on the heavy oak table. She’d never wished she was human again as much as she did then. There was golden brown turkey and honeyed ham, mashed potatoes and green bean casserole, cranberry sauce and fresh baked rolls. Even Pearl’s mouth started watering.

The first few minutes were spent in relative silence. It seemed that the presence of good food broke the tense mood that Jasper’s aunts had brought with them. Pearl even managed to sneak most of her food on Jasper’s plate while the others were focused on eating.

“So how did you two meet?” Tania asked, giving Pearl a soft smile.

Jasper perked at that. “We met at my work.”

“Don’t you work at a bar?” Lillian asked, her nose wrinkling.

“That’s lovely.” Tania cut in, cutting a glance at Lillian. “Speaking of: what do you do for a living Pearl?”

Pearl wasn’t quite sure how to tell her that she accumulated enough wealth selling her old stuff from a few hundred years ago to live comfortably. “I’m… a bit of a freelance curator.”

Lillian let out a snort. Pearl turned her most charming smile on her, relishing the way her face contorted at it. “That can’t be the most… stable job, can it?” She looked at Pearl’s outfit, “It certainly doesn’t seem to pay very well.”

Pearl had thought that her slacks and sky blue blouse were quite appropriate, but they seemed to think otherwise. “It’s actually very nice. I have flexible hours and freedom to travel wherever I’d like. How about you Lillian? Dealing with antiques, I know a victorian era dress like that must cost a pretty penny.”

Lillian’s face turned red all the way up to her ears. Nonetheless, she puffed out her chest and gave Pearl a smug grin. “I’m a real estate agent in Empire City.”

She saw Jake roll his eyes in her peripheral and it took all she had to hold back a bark of laughter. “Empire City? Oh, I’ve heard of their lack of good hairstylists, but I never expected it to be true! I can’t believe you’re doing such a great job of covering up your hair loss despite that. You just have to tell me your secret!”

Lillian made a half choking half groaning sound, taking a quick drink of her juice to cover it up. Susan, however, seemed ready to leap into the fray.

“Oh, you’re so right about the hair stylists. It’s a shame. Luckily, we have a much more active fashion industry.” She gave a faux pitying look at Pearl’s outfit. 

It was hard not to roll her eyes. They had no variety. It was almost too easy to insult them. “I can see that! That shade of red  _ really _ accentuates your pallid skin!”

She gasped, but Pearl kept going, “Being rather pale myself, I know how hard it can be to highlight it without looking like… well, like a  _ vampire _ .” She took pride in the way Jasper’s shoulders shook ever so subtly.

They didn’t stay for dessert.

The mood lightened considerably after their hasty exit. The conversation took a much more pleasant turn with coffee and pie.

“Thank you for the lovely meal.” She told Tania and Jake. Even if she didn’t eat much of it, she appreciated them welcoming her into their house. “I’m willing to take care of the dishes.”

“I’ll help you out.” Tania volunteered, leading Pearl towards the kitchen.

It was easy to work with Tania. She was quick and methodical. For a while there was only companionable silence and the clinking of dishes and silverware. Halfway way through, Tania cleared her throat.

“It’s wonderful that Jasper’s found someone. She’s never really brought up her dating life before today.”

Pearl looked over, surprised.

“You two seem to fit well together. I love Jasper to pieces, but I know she can be stubborn as an ox sometimes. It’s nice to know she’s dating someone with steel in their spine and a sharp tongue.”

Pearl was quiet for a moment, a small smile on her face. “You know, this isn’t how meeting the parents usually goes.” She chuckled, “It’s usually more of a ‘You better treat my daughter right or I’ll hunt you down’.”

Tania snorted. “That’s how it was when I was younger. But I know that Jasper can take care of herself, and you don’t seem like a bad person.”

It was a bit ironic, Pearl thought, that she was calling a literal blood sucking creature of the night a good person. But it felt nice.

“You’re always welcome here Pearl.”

Pearl’s chest suddenly felt tight. She’d always been a solitary person, even when she was still human. And when she did turn, cast out by her village - by her family- even more so. Besides Garnet and Amethyst (and Rose, but she didn’t think about that) she hadn’t really felt anyone welcome her like this. She had the sudden urge to spill that she was a vampire. Failing that, to leap out the window and run far, far away.

She did neither. Instead, she said, “Thank you, Tania.”

Her voice broke, but Tania was kind enough not to mention it.

The drive home was quiet. Jasper fell asleep with her head against the window before they were even on the freeway, snoring softly. Pearl turned the radio to the classical station, reveling in the peace the night brought.

When they arrived, Pearl gazed at Jasper’s peaceful face for a moment. It would be a shame to wake her up. So she didn’t. She looked around the parking lot before simply hefting Jasper into her arms and carrying her inside.

All settled in the blankets, Pearl felt more at ease than she had in a long time. She didn’t know whether it was defending herself and Jasper against her aunts, Tania and Jake being so accepting and welcoming, or the that she heard what sounded like Jasper murmuring ‘love you Pearl’ at the very edges of her hearing; but she slept well.


End file.
